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THE COMMUNITY 

GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS 



THE STORY OF A NEIGHBORHOOD 



BY EDWARD ADAMS RICHARDSON 



MARCH, 1911 
AVER, MASSACHUSETTS 






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Home of Deiijuniiii Hull. 1843 — 1S56. 






THE COMMUNITY 

GROTON. MASSACHUSETTS 



THE STORY OF A NEIGHBORHOOD 



By EDWARD ADAMS RICHARDSON 



The subject matter of the following 
sketch has become of more than pass- 
ing interest to the writer who lived 
for a number of years in that part of 
Groton known as the Community. 

The settlement in Groton, called for 
years, the Community, was a gather- 
ing place in the year 1847 and there- 
after of kindred spirits who had be- 
come knitted together in the bonds of 
friendship and in their faith in the 
second advent of Christ as set forth 
by William Miller in the early for- 
ties. 

Meii of strong mental attainments 
became interested and, as viewed in 
this later day, we can but feel that 
they were sincere for the greater part 
and no more to be scoffed at than 
those other experimenters who took 
up with the dietetic schemes at Pruit- 
lands and Brook Farm. 

To preserve for future historians 
some of the incidents which led up to 
the establishment of the settlement 
and to give an account of its continu- 
ance and decline is the intent of the 
following article in the writing of 
which I wish to acknowledge the as- 
sistance rendered by my father, Jo- 
seph Henry Richardson, who was born 
in Westford, Mass., December 26, 1835, 
and whose mind is a storehouse of 



memories of those early days. I have 
studiously avoided many personal al- 
lusions and recorded only such char- 
acteristics of individuals as are neces- 
sary for a proper understanding of the 
subject. 

That former residents of this vil- 
lage may know of some of the changes 
here, a few views of buildings of the 
Groton Episcopal School are inserted 
in this article, through the courtesy 
of Mr. George E. Meyet, who is con- 
nected with the work of the school. 
These buildings, for the most part, 
stand on the Graves farm in the old 
field, orchard and pasture between the 
locations of the old barn and the Ben- 
jamin F. Hartwell place, surrounded 
by extensive lawns and trees and 
shrubbery. 

Groton, just before the coming of 
the railroads, was an important inland 
town and to it came many people who 
sought here to pass their declining 
years in the peaceful retirement of a 
good old town with a healthful en- 
vironment. 

The religious schisms of a few 
years ago had been adjusted and the 
three churches in the town had be- 
come established and working in har- 
mony when the anti-slavery agitation 
was started and closely following it, 
the religious movement known as 
Millerism, or the belief in the second 
coming of Christ, was taken up by a 






few at the centre of the town, while in 
the country at large, eventually, over 
50,000 people were credited as being 
believers in the faith. 

One pleasant autumn day in the 
year 1840, four young men were 
tramping in company along the "Great 
Road," from Concord to Groton. The 
party was composed of Theodore 
Parker and George Ripley of Boston, 
Christopher P. Cranch of Newton, and 
A. Bronson Alcott of Concord. 

To fully appreciate the conditions 
which led the people of 1840 and the 
following years to take up this ism, 
we must consider that it was a period 
given up largely to an analysis of all 
beliefs and dogmas, and that in those 
days there were not lacking men of 
independent thought and initiative. 

It was this spirit that led Messrs. 
Parker, Cranch, Ripley and Alcott to 
walk in company over the road from 
Boston to Groton to attend a Christian 
Union Convention called by the Sec- 
ond Advents and Come-outers, who 
had sat under the preaching of Rev. 
Silas Hawley. His supporters in Gro- 
ton were called Hawleyites. 

This convention was called for the 
purpose of establishing a new church, 
or new denomination, as we would 
say today, in which a greater free- 
dom of belief should be allowed, hav- 
ing especial reference to the expres- 
sion by the Come-outers of their be- 
lief in the abolition of slavery and 
looking to the foundation of the Unity 
of the church. 

Leading citizens of the town were 
favorable to this movement, but in 
the convention, which was attended 
by delegates from all over New Eng- 
land and New York State, all was 
not harmonious and no new church 
was established. 

Many of those interested in Groton 
were found as friends of the Advent 
faith in the years immediately after. 
The story of this convention is told 
at some considerable length in Dr. 
Samuel A. Green's Groton Historical 
Series, Vol. I, Nos. IV and XI. 

In the following years there came 
other movements led by the abolition- 
ists, the transcendentalists at Brook 
Farm, Roxbury, the colony at Fruit- 
lands, Harvard, and political bodies 
of whigs, free-soilers, locofocos and 
others with various shades of beliei. 

There are men now living in this 
vicinity who remember the great wave 



of religious interest which reached to 
all parts of the country. The various 
cults and ims had hosts of followers, 
some of whom became famous as 
noted thinkers and investigators. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson, in a lectui^^e, 
entitled "New England Reformers," 
delivered in Boston, March 3, 1844. 
says: "Whoever has had an opportuni- 
ty of acquaintance with society in New 
England during the last twenty-five 
years, with those middle and with 
those leading sections that may con- 
stitute any just representation of the 
character and aim of the community, 
will have been struck with the great 
activity of thought and experiment- 
ing." 

The Advent belief called new, though 
appearing at intervals for the past 
one thousand years, was based on an 
interpretation of the scriptures not in 
accord with the generally accepted 
rendering and was dependent large- 
ly on the prophesies of the old and 
new testaments. 

The following extract is from a let- 
ter written before 1843 by William 
Miller to a brother preacher: "I un- 
derstand that the judgment day will 
be a thousand years long. The right- 
eous are raised and judged in the com- 
mencement of that day, the wicked in 
the end of that day. I believe that 
the saints will be raised and judged 
about the year 1843, according to 
Moses' prophesy in Leviticus, Chapter 
26. Eziekel, Chapter 39. Daniel, 
Chapters 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Hosea. 
Chapter 5, and Revelations, the whole 
book, and many other prophets have 
spoken of these things. Time will 
soon tell if I am right. 

"I believe in the glorious, immortal 
and personal reign of Jesus Christ, 
with all his people on the purified 
earth forever. I believe the millen- 
nium is between the two resurrections 
and two judgments, the righteous and 
the wicked, the just and the unjust. 

"I hope the dear friends of Christ 
will lay by all prejudice and look at 
and examine these three views by 
the only rule and standard, the 
Bible." 

All the comments of the day ac- 
claimed William Miller as a good 
man, sincere but under a delusion. 
Meetings were held all over New Eng- 
land and somewhat in the states at 
the westward. Those interested were 
accustomed at first to go to the 



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Ofc. \:i iBt« 




\\ illiuiii Miller. 17.N1 — 1S4J) 




lirookM Hoiisf. Iliiilt 1,S.S4. 




Hiiiiilre<l H«»iis«*. Kre«'te«l 1S!H. 




Benjuniin F. Hartwell Home. 1847 — 18»7. 



larger places like Boston and Lowell, 
and later to meetings held in the 
suburban towns by various preachers 
among whom were William Miller, 
Elder Cole and Elder Preble, the last 
of whom was recently living at the 
advanced age of ninety years. 

At times large assemblies or camp 
meetings were conducted, particularly 
in Littleton, where many gathered on 
the farm of Andrew Whitcomb to hear 
the doctrine set forth by Mr. Miller 
and his followers. 

Some of the leading citizens of the 
surrounding towns, in all sincerity 
took up the idea and among them the 
Whitcombs of Littleton, Leightons 
and Richardsons of Westford, Hall, 
Bancrofts, Gates, Cragin and Hart- 
wells of Groton, became interested if 
not actual followers of Millerism. 

To these camps by stages, barges, 
and other conveyances, the country- 
side came as for a holiday and some 
who came to scoff remained to pray. 

In Westford the Leightons had been 
engaged in a small way in the manu- 
facture of boots and shoes, which busi- 
ness they afterward continued in 
Pepperell to which place Albert Leigh- 
ton moved the business in 1848, and 
where he died on January 2, 1905, 
in his ninety-second year. 

The Richardsons in Westford had 
both been school teachers for many 
years in early life and with the Leigh- 
tons had closely followed all the ad- 
vanced thought of the day. They had 
frequently made trips by team in com- 
pany to Boston to listen to William 
Lloyd Garrison, the anti - slavery 
champion, and it was hinted that their 
homes were stations on the under- 
ground railroad. 

In Westford, William Miller ex- 
plaiijed by elaborate charts the cer- 
tain end of the world which he had 
computed would come to pass between 
the vernal equinoxes of 1843-1844, first 
set for March, 1844, and then again 
for October, 1844. 

The Lowell Courier of October 17, 
1844, commenting on the excitement 
says: "The 21 inst. (next Tuesday), is 
we believe the 'last day of Grace.' " 

The same newspaper reports: "The 
Newburyport Courier states that on 
Saturday last, the following notice 
was posted on the door of one of the 
dry goods stores in that town: "Be- 
lieving as I most sincerely do, that 
the Lord Jesus Christ will, in a few 



days, come in the clouds of heaven, I 
retire from this shop: as I am de- 
termined, God being my helper, that 
my works shall correspond with my 
faith." 

Saturday afternoon, Oct. 12, 1844. 

The Newburyport paper adds that the 
Millerite fever seems to be on the in- 
crease and that other stores were 
closing and the signs taken down, 
expecting that the end of the world 
would come before Monday morning. 

In Pennsylvania the advents were in 
camp in groves Monday and Tuesday 
nights. Not much newspaper com- 
ment is made on these events, perhaps 
largely because the country was in 
the very midst of a great political 
contest where the whigs and abolition- 
ists were each seeking the ascend- 
ency which resulted in the success of 
the democracy. George S. Boutwell 
of Groton was a democratic candidate 
for congress and Franklin Pierce, 
"New Hampshire's gifted and elo- 
quent son," was stumping the State 
of Massachusetts for the democracy, 
and spoke in Lowell, October 24, 1844. 

Daniel Webster delivered a two- 
hour address on the topics of the day 
in Pepperell on November 5, 1844. 
Over one thousand people gathered in 
the common before the church and 
the meeting was opened with prayer 
by Rev. Charles Babbidge. The audi- 
tors came from Groton, Shirley, Ash- 
by, Townsend, Dunstable and Pepper- 
ell, and the address was fully report- 
ed in the Lowell Courier on November 
7, 1844. 

Benjamin F. Hartwell was born and 
lived in Groton, but later moved to 
Acton. In 1844 he was living at Lit- 
tleton Common and his house was a 
gathering place for the believers from 
Westford, Acton and Littleton, who 
assembled on October 10, 1844, to 
await the end of the world. 

That night the adults passed the 
time in prayer and reading of the 
scriptures in an upper room, while 
the children slept on the lower floor. 

It is of course needless to say that 
the end of the world came not, and 
in grievous disappointment they went 
back to their farms to gather those 
crops which had not already been 
put in store for them, against their 
need, by their unbelieving friends and 
relatives, some of whom showed much 
indignation at the neglect of their 



3 — 



farm work and lack of foresight 
which led some even to give away 
their stock. 

Soon after these events, new com- 
putations were made and Mr. Miller 
stated he had made an error in his 
reckoning and new dates were set for 
the end of the world. 

In Groton Centre, Benjamin Hall 
and his followers had erected for a 
place of meeting the building called 
by the world's people, the Polliwog 
Chapel, from its location near a pond 
hole, where Willow Dale Road leads 
off from Hollis Street, next to the 
home of John H. Hartwell, who lived 
there at that time. 

John and Benjamin Hartwell, skill- 
ed carpenters, assisted in the work, 
and to this place came visitors from 
Westford, Littleton and other towns 
about for the services and these 
meetings were a sort of reunion of 
those who had met together in West- 
ford and Littleton. 

The Polliwog Chapel was sold in 
November, 1844, to Daniel Needham 
and George S. Boutwell, moved to Main 
Street and made over into Liberty 
Hall, which was burned March 31, 
1878. After the removal of the chapel 
for other purposes, advent meetings 
were held in a small way at the homes 
of Mr. Hall and Minot Leighton, who 
lived in the Moses Gill house, next to 
the present Wharton residence, also 
at the house of Aaron Mason on Main 
Street, Groton, the house known as the 
Nelson Shumway place, and in 1911, 
as the Dr. Kilbourn hospital. 

Benjamin Hall was a native of West- 
ford, a descendent of Willard Hall, 
the first minister of that town, and 
was born on July 12, 1796, on the Day 
farm between the centre of the town 
and Graniteville. 

In early life, with his brother Wil- 
liam, he engaged in the wholesale 
clothing business in Boston for about 
fifteen years, and when his brother 
moved to England, the firm became 
importers of woolens and other goods. 

In England, William became a pub- 
lisher and obtained the royal distinc- 
tion as publisher to the crown and 
amassed a large fortune. There was 
also another brother. Judge Willard 
Hall of Wilmington, Delaware. 

We find that Benjamin Hall lived 
for six years in Acton before coming 
to Groton, which was probably in 
1838, when he bought the farm on the 



Nashua River, though it does not ap- 
pear that he lived upon it until 1840, 
as shown in the account of Theodore 
Parker's visit to Groton. His second 
wife was Caroline Bancroft, a sis- 
ter of George and Henry Bancroft 
of Groton. The daughter and only 
child of Mr. and Mrs. Hall, Caroline, 
married, July 15, 1842, Daniel Need- 
ham, a son of James Needham, who 
was a Quaker from Salem and had 
been engaged in business in Boston, 
and had formed a close friendship 
with the Halls. 

Daniel Needham's mother and his 
brothers Eziekel and Benjamin, and 
sisters Olive and Lydia h«,d moved up 
from Salem and were for years resi- 
dents of the town. 

Daniel Needham was admitted to 
practice at the bar of Middlesex Coun- 
ty in 1847, and the success of Mr. Hall 
in Groton was due in a large measure 
to the family relationship which gave 
to him the advice of an honorable and 
intelligent counsellor, and the Com- 
munity a steadfast friend. 

Mr. Mason was a wheelwright and 
builder of sleighs, wagons and stage- 
coaches, and nearby was a large shop 
in which was a huge treadmill, horse 
power for operating the machinery. 

The Zedutha Stanley place had 
been sold by the heirs, Nabby Stan- 
ley, Polly Jaquith and Dorcas Hop- 
kins early in 1835, and in October, 
1838, Mr. Hall took title to two 
separate parcels, making a farm of 
120 acres extending along the Gro- 
ton-Shirley Road from the J. J. 
Graves farm, now Groton School land, 
to the farms of Deacon Walter Dick- 
son and Major Amos Farnsworth, and 
westerly to the Nashua River. In his 
early ownership the farm was let, 
meanwhile the wood and timber on 
Pine Hill was removed to quite an 
extent. 

On Butler's map of Groton published 
in 1847, we have along this street the 
owners to which list many additions 
were soon to be made. It would seem 
that Rodolphus Parker, whose wife 
was said to be a descendant of Gov. 
Dudley, had moved up from the neigh- 
borhood of the Concord-Acton line in 
about 1846, and that Walter Keyes 
from Acton was living in the Hall 
place. 

At the south were the farms of 
Walter Dickson, Jacob Pollard and 
Major Amos Farnsworth, and to the 



— 4 — 




(;ro(oii Sfliuol <'h]i|><-l. i:rf«-t<-<l l!M)0. 




«;> iiiiiiiKMiin. Iliiill ]!)0U. 




Home of Lucy 31. Ririinrdsoii. 1S4!t — 1S70. 




School House — Grotou School. Erected 1898. 



southeast was the large farm of Ben- 
jamin Moors. To the north was 
living George Martin Shattuck on the 
farm more recently known as the 
Joshua Wait place, and the next farm 
towards Groton Centre was owned and 
occupied by John J. Graves, familiarly 
known as Jack Graves. This farm 
is now owned by the Groton School 
and upon it are most of the school 
buildings. 

About this time, as shown by the 
conveyances, Mr. Hall conceived the 
idea of establishing the Communi- 
ty upon and near his farm. The 
interest of Mr. Hall and his followers 
had fallen away from the general 
advent doctrine, but we must under- 
stand that by this time the community 
of thought had led to a close friendly 
acquaintance, and while the real value 
of their belief was often questioned, 
among themselves they were drawn 
the closer and others of their kindred 
and friends joined them. 

About 1847, Mr. Hall conveyed a 
large part of his farm to his long- 
time friend, Benjamin F. Hartwell, 
whom he had known in Acton, and to 
others were sold smaller lots, and these 
purchasers were assisted in building 
their homes. 

Benjamin P. Hartwell was a schol- 
arly man, and like his brother John, 
inherited marked mental abilities and 
physical strength. These qualities 
were repeated to a great degree in 
his four children who have filled im- 
portant places in the world's work and 
who became leaders in their chosen 
professions. He was early in life a 
teacher and studied for the ministry; 
was a great reader and later in life 
a good all-around carpenter. He erec- 
ted and moved buildings and contrac- 
ted for the construction of churches, 
schools, houses, barns and bridges. 
He died on September 15, 1897. 

At this time other settlers were Jo- 
seph Richards of Newburyport, who 
at one time drove stages between that 
city and Boston; John Fitz and Mer- 
rick Hale from Winchendon, who 
were skilled woodworkers; Joseph A. 
Gushing from Stoneham and Mrs. 
Weston and Minot Leighton from 
Westford. From Westford in 1849, also 
came Mrs. Lucy Richardson and her 
family of young children, and bought 
of John H. Hartwell, sixteen acres of 
the farm he had purchased on April 
10, 1847, of Mr. Shattuck. Mrs. Rich- 



ardson, in company with Miss Betsey 
Ash, built on this land a cottage house 
which shortly after the war of the 
rebellion, was sold with a portion of 
the land to Jordan Groodwin, a re- 
turned soldier, and moved northerly 
to the fork of the roads, enlarged 
several times by various owners and 
finally burned on July 19, 1904. 

Miss Ash moved to South Groton, 
and Mrs. Richardson had built just 
south of her cottage location a large 
two-story house, partly from the 
wheelwright shop of Mr. Mason, which 
was taken down at Groton Centre and 
re-erected here. She lived here until 
her marriage again in 1870, and moved 
to the house of her husband, Mr. 
Francis B. Parker of Chelmsford. 
Her place was purchased by her son, 
Joseph H. Richardson, who after sev- 
eral years' occupancy, moved to Ayer 
in 1887, and sold it to Mr. George 
Whitney, the present occupant, in 
1890. 

After Mrs. Richardson moved into 
her new house, the cottage was rented 
to various persons. Mr. Albert Bill- 
ings, who was somewhat of a shrewd 
business man, occupied it for a season 
while interested in the yeast business 
with Noah Button and Joseph Rich- 
ards. This business was started in 
Mr. Richard's dwelling house further 
up the street. Mr. Billings will be 
mentioned later. Joseph A. Gushing 
bought a part of the Hall place which 
here extended southerly to the old 
Moors farm, in later years known as 
the Culver farm. The cross road from 
the Hall place leading easterly to 
the South Groton Road was laid out 
by Mr. Hall through the Gushing land 
and land of Lucy Richardson, and a 
sharp turn was made around the lot 
of Miss Nabby Stanley just before it 
reached the east road. 

Mr. Gushing built his home and set 
out grape vines and fruit trees which 
under the care of the next owner, Mr. 
Newman, grew to bear fruit of most 
excellent quality as all the boys of 
forty years ago will testify. Subse- 
quent owners were Messrs. Coachman. 
Ring and Swan, under whose occu- 
pancy the buildings were burned and 
most of the fruit trees and vines de- 
stroyed. The house and outbuildings 
have been replaced with a dwelling 
and an extensive greenhouse plant by 
the present owner, Mr. H. Huebner, 
the florist. 



— 5 — 



John Fitz, Rodolphus Parker and 
Merrick Hale were located at the end 
of a lane provided by Mr. Hall off 
the south side of his farm. Mr. Fitz 
lived where lately Millard Smith lived, 
Mr. Parker where a Mr. Rynn lived in 
the seventies, and Mr. Hale lived on 
the corner where the lane turned to 
the right where an instructor's house 
is now being built for the Groton 
School. 

After 1847, a hoop shaving shop 
used by Walter Keyes was sold to 
Miss Rebecca Green, a sister of Mrs. 
Gushing, and converted into the 
dwelling where John Hackett or his 
family have lived for fifty years. 

At the rear of a house built for 
Mrs. Weston from an old barn moved 
over from the Hall place was erected, 
an ell extending across the whole end, 
and on the upper floor was a hall 
where the first meetings of the ad- 
vents in this village were held and 
continued for about four years. This 
place was conveyed by Mrs. Weston 
to Minot Leighton and was after- 
wards known as the Leighton house. 

Mr. Hall became the leader of the 
advent movement in Groton, and in 
this room was accustomed to explain 
his belief which differed somewhat 
from the generally accepted creed in 
that Mr. Hall preached the establish- 
ment of the New Jerusalem right here 
in Groton, while others, of which Dea- 
con Walter Dickson was a type, be- 
lieved that the Kingdom of God was 
to be set up in Palestine, the sacred 
land of Bible history. 

Having a common dooryard and a 
common pump through which the di- 
vision line ran, Joseph Richards built 
his home adjoining the Leighton place. 
This was afterwards known as the 
Widow Ann Gilson or Goding house, 
the home of Thomas and Sumner Gil- 
son, and their sisters, one of whom 
married Mr. Harrison Goding. These 
houses stood in front of the present 
stable of Mt. William Amory Gard- 
ner. 

Benjamin Hall, Benjamin Hartwell, 
John Fitz, Joseph Richards, Walter 
Keyes and Joseph Gushing were large- 
ly instrumental in erecting the com.- 
munity shop which at first had a roof 
sloping to the road. In order to pro- 
vide a new hall this roof was soon 
removed and a larger one placed upon 
it with gable facing the road. 

Joseph H. Richardson recalls put- 



ting the topmost shingles on this build- 
ing when erected and that as a lad of 
sixteen he loaded an ox team at this 
shop with house finish and drove to 
Goncord and back in one of the cold- 
est days of winter for which he re- 
ceived one dollar for his services 
which ended late at night. 

This shop was erected in 1850, as 
a sort of partnership affair to furnish 
employment to some of the residents 
and with the new hall was a general 
gathering place and might be prop- 
erly called the second advent meeting 
house. 

This building was a huge affair with 
a shingle roof and sides covered with 
pebbled plaster, and stood nearly op- 
posite the barn on the Hall farm. 

On the ground floor in the south- 
west corner was a huge tread mill 
horse power, an inclined wheel of 
about thirty feet diameter. When a 
horse began to walk around this 
wheel, a feat that was never accom- 
plished, a drum underneath was set in 
motion. 

The revolving drum below was belt- 
ed to shafting which operated the va- 
rious machines for sawing and cutting 
cut stock for wooden boxes, measures 
and dippers, sometimes called "nog- 
gins." Doors and windows were also 
made here and lumber prepared for 
house finish. 

On the second floor, reached by a 
stairway from about the middle of the 
fTont of the building and winding up 
over the horsepower, were benches for 
setting up the wooden ware and some 
other machines. 

The top floor in the roof was fin- 
ished and plastered for a hall and 
school, and here every night and Sun- 
days services were held for five or six 
years of the ten years of the com- 
munity period. 

At times school was kept here by 
Miss Lizzie Mason, daughter of Aaron 
Mason. She afterwards married a Mr. 
James Boyd, an advent visitor from 
Philadelphia, and moved to that city. 
She married a second time a Mr. 
Ewell and died in Baltimore in 1894, 
and is interred in the Mason lot at 
Aver. The school was not a large one, 
having an attendance of about fifteen. 
The larger boys and girls were for 
the most part working in various 
places. 

The reading room was an annex to 
this large building and with commend- 



6 — 




Community Shop. ISoO — 187S. 




Mr, Garduer's Athletic liiiililiii;;. HiHlt IftOl. 




Grotoii School Boat House. 




H.jiiio .»! \\alter Dickson. 1838 — 1858. 



able virtue was erected about 1855, 
for the use of the young people who 
numbered over twenty-five. Here 
v.ere kept newspapers and other read- 
ing matter, particularly second ad- 
vent literature. They also played 
games and for its maintenance con- 
tributed a small amount for heat and 
lights, which were candles set in large 
tin chandeliers or spirit lamps, for it 
was before kerosene came into gen- 
eral use The shop for many years 
after 1860, was a neglected building, 
a menace to the children of the neigh- 
borhood, on account of its decayed 
condition and tend-ency to fall over 
and was taken down in 1878, by Mr. 
Hartwell and worked over into a cot- 
tage house on the same spot. 

The Deacon Walter Dickson farm 
was the place where on October 25, 
1704, John Davis was killed by In- 
dians in his own dooryard. The event 
is recorded by a memorial boulder 
erected in 1910. 

Mr. Dickson sold out in 1853 to 
Henry Moody of Newburyport and 
went to Palestine in that year. 

It does not appear that Mr. Moody 
affliliated with the advents, though 
his wife did. He had about oppo- 
site the present Huebner place a 
blacksmith shop which was taken 
down by Joseph H. Richardson when 
he bought the farm in 1856. Mr. 
Moody made ship irons and jack 
screws which were sent away to be 
finished, the jacks being teamed to 
Lowell to have the threads cut at the 
machine shop of Silver and Gay. Mr. 
Richardson lived there about a year 
when he sold to Joseph Dickinson, 
the elder, whose widow is now living 
on the farm at the advanced age of 
eighty-three, with her son Joseph and 
family. 

The story of the experience of the 
Dickson family has always been of 
interest to Groton people and a brief 
account is here given and it will be 
noticed that the name, Walter Dick- 
son, has been perpetuated for six gen- 
erations in this vicinity. 

Walter Dickson and Walter Dick- 
son, Jr., came to Groton from Cam- 
bridge in 1795 and purchased a farm 
on Farmers' Row. 

A third Walter Dickson born on the 
homestead in 1799 lived there with 
his brother Charles until he moved 
to the community location in 1838. He 
was an exceedingly pious man and was 



known as "Deacon." He lived here un- 
til 1853, when he sold out and went to 
Palestine as previously stated. His son, 
Walter E. settled in Harvard and was 
the father of Walter Fred Dickson and 
Philip O. Dickson of that town. The 
sixth Walter is a son of Walter Fred 
Dickson above mentioned. 

Deacon Walter Dickson had anoth- 
er son, Philip D., who had preceded 
him in 1852 with his bride Susan, a 
daughter of Aaron Mason, as a mis- 
sionary to the Turks and who died in 
Jerusalem April 25, 1853, and was 
buried on the Mount of Olives at that 
city. His widow returned alone from 
Beirut by sailing vessel in the same 
year and died September 24, 1863, and 
is buried in the Mason lot in Ayer. 

Infused with the zeal of the mis- 
sionary cause, the father, Deacon 
Walter Dickson, his wife and three 
daughters and son Henry sailed Octo- 
ber 11, 1853, aboard the bark, John 
Winthrop, for Smyrna, thence to 
Jaffa. Here he lived and continued 
in missionary work until 1858. Mean- 
while his daughters, Almira and Mary, 
married two Steinbeck brothers. 

On January 12, 1858, their home was 
broken into by brigands and the fam- 
ily brutally assaulted; Frederick 
Steinbeck, husband of Mary, killed 
and Mr. Dickson, the elder, left for 
dead. June 12, 1858, the survivors 
of the family embarked for the United 
States from the port of Jaffa, via 
Alexandria, Egypt. 

Here the party separated and Mr. 
Dickson and son Henry went to Con- 
stantinople to consult with the United 
States minister as to indemnity, then 
sailing via Malta, London and Liver- 
pool to New York and Boston. The 
others sailed direct from Alexandria 
on bark Champion via Spain to Bos- 
ton, and a remarkable coincidence 
happened. Both parties arrived In 
Boston on the same day, September 

16, 1858, not having heard from each 
other since parting at Alexandria and 
sailing by different routes on a voyage 
of more than three months' duration. 

They arrived in Harvard September 

17, 1858, at the home of the son, Wal- 
ter E. Dickson. Broken in health. 
Deacon Dickson lived a little over a 
year and died in Harvard aged sixty 
years. 

The two sons who survived him 
both enlisted for the war of the re- 
bellion. Henry in Co. B, Sixth regt.. 



7 — 



from Groton Junction and served 
through the whole war and Walter E. 
from Charlestown, where he then re- 
sided. 

Henry built a home on Prospect 
street in Groton Junction in 1860 and 
after the war in 1865 moved to Fitch- 
burg, where he now resides. Walter 
E. died at Ayer in 1872. 

Charles Dickson before referred to 
will be remembered by old Groton 
people as residing on the old home- 
stead on Farmers' Row, and that he 
did a teaming business to Boston, 
taking down hay and returning with 
general merchandise for the store- 
keepers of the town. One of his char- 
acteristics was to stop wherever night 
overtook him and continue the trip 
on the next day and often not going 
to his own home on Farmers' Row. 

An examination of a Middlesex 
County map published in 1856, shows 
the residents at the Community, called 
on the map Nonicanicus Village, when 
the settlement was at its best and 
with the changes since Mr. Hall be- 
gan the settlement as shown on Caleb 
Butler's map of Groton in 1847. 

Instead of Walter Dickson we have 
Henry Moody and instead of George 
M. Shattuck, John H. Hartwell. 
Nathan Davis is living at the Amos 
Farnsworth farm and Aaron Mason 
on the Benjamin Moors farm. There 
are also indicated upon it the new 
houses of John Fitz, Benjamin Hart- 
well, Joseph Richards, Minot Leigh- 
ton, Joseph H. Richardson, Noah Dut- 
ton and Lucy M. Richardson and the 
shop opposite the Hall place is also 
marked. 

From the small beginning in Mr. 
Richards' house, the dry hop yeast 
business grew under the energetic 
hand of Mr. Billings; the quarters 
A\ere enlarged and then shortly after 
the large building known as the 
Yeast House was put up on land 
bought of Joseph Alva Gushing on the 
cross road. 

In 1852, Daniel Needham for his 
brother Benjamin, bought out Dutton 
and Billings after the concern had 
been going about three years. Bill- 
ings and Dutton moved to South Gro- 
ton and formed a partnership with 
Walter Wright, who built the Yeast 
House on Pleasant Street, now own- 
ed by Joseph P. Mullin, and where Abel 
Prescott later resided and died. Mr. 
Billings was the selling agent for the 



dry hop yeast his concerns made, when 
in Groton and South Groton. Albert 
Billings lived in the cottage house in 
Groton Junction at the corner of 
Pleasant and Cambridge Streets, where 
afterwards Mr. Joseph Billings lived 
and since moved by Mr. Donlon, the 
present owner, to make room for his 
new residence. He afterwards moved 
to Chicago and amassed a fortune in 
the manufacture and sale of gas in 
that city. 

Richards and Needham operated the 
Groton shop until 1860, when the 
yeast cake business went to pieces. 
Mr. Richards went to Wisconsin at the 
time of the exodus to be explained 
later and Benjamin Needham removed 
to the "Junction" and opened the 
Needham House, corner of Forest and 
Tannery Streets. 

The young people of the community 
were not permitted to be Idle and 
when not obliged to attend school 
according to the legal requirements, 
the girls at times worked in the 
yeast factory or picked berries in 
season, while the boys, of various 
ages, worked on the neighboring 
farms in summer and chopped wood 
in the winter for Mr. Hall at sixty 
cents per cord, earning about thirty 
cents per day. 

One day in particular six of them, 
all under fifteen years of age, were 
sent to Snake Hill and their em- 
ployer cheered them on their way 
when it was twenty-two degrees 
below zero by calling out, "Smart 
and tough, I can stand it well 
enough." On the "other road" at the 
home of Alva Wright they were com- 
passionately invited in to thaw out 
their benumbed hands and faces. It 
was before sunrise and Mrs. Wright 
exclaimed, "Why you poor boys! my 
girls of your age are still in bed." 

Some of these boys remember to 
this day how their earnings were 
much reduced by paying for damage 
to the wood by a noonday fire which 
was allowed to get out of bounds and 
how one of their number ran all the 
way home from Snake Hill for help. 
They do not forget how the neighbor- 
hood had to contribute by buying up 
some of their blackened "crocky" 
wood at the usual price. 

In 1863, Joseph H. Richardson while 
living in Vermont purchased the 
"Yeast House," and returning to Gro- 
ton, removed the dry house portion in 



— 8 — 



'ih,ii.i fftlH- 







Old Chapel — Groton School. 




Home of John J. Graves. 1834 — 1869. 




Hnekett Home. 1860 — 1911. 




Instructor's House — Gi-oloii School. 
Near the site of .Tohii H. Hart-»vell House. 



I 



which the yeast cakes had been dried 
on stacks of wooden frames strung 
with crossed meshes of cotton twine 

Some years later he sold the place 
to one French, who sold to John 
Swan. Abel L. Lawton then took the 
title and conveyed to Mr. George Whit- 
ney, May 28. 1888. The building went 
up in smoke April 1, 1890, and upon 
the lot now stands the Benjamin F 
Hartwell house, moved over in May 
1904. from its original location. 

The young people of forty years 
ago will recall the dances and re- 
vivals held in 1871, in the large room 
at the yeast house and where an old 
man in the "seventy tooth" year of 
his age often spoke. These revival 
meetings were attended by a great 
many "from the region around about " 
as a diary kept at that time states 
August 18th. 1871. "the yeast house 
was crowded full." It seems meetings 
had already been held at the school 
house and on July 9th, 1871, at Cap- 
tain Coachman's house which he had 
bought of Mrs. Newman in the spring 
of that year. 

In August 1878. revivals were held 
by an evangelist in a large tent in the 
field at rear of the Hall place, then 
owned by Mr. Daggett, which many 
attended. ^ 

There were some causes, a sort of 
inside history, which led to the break- 
ing up of the Community life. Mr 
Hall s second wife had been long dead 
and he a strong vigorous man of sixty- 
tour, had been a leader in the vil- 
lage. His future wife had come into 
possession of a large tract of land in 
Germania, Marquette County, Wiscon- 
fwH^""? ^''- ^^"' 't'^coming interested 
in the lady, also became interested in 
the land. 

They first went to Rochester, N 
Y. probably in the fall of 1856, where 
Mrs. Pierce and he were married, and 
\^tl ^^7^ domiciled there early in 
1858. Mr and Mrs. Richards and Miss 
ii^llis, a daughter of Mrs. Hall by a 
former husband, jointed them in May, 
1858, and in the fall of 1859, Mr. Hall 
and family were well settled on the 
Wisconsin tract. 

Rochester, N. Y., was then the lo- 
SnH wf ^ ^""^^ ^°^°"y «f the sect 

"SnJn "^i;. '^?^ ^^^^ to Ct^oton were 
filled with mighty truth " 

hZ^^-^^^T^"^ accounts" of the new 
.iT^f'!'^^'^''''''^^'' ^^^ some, but not 
all, of those at the community to ar- 



range for the disposal ot their es- 
tates and follow. 

An immense auction sale of some 
fifteen parcels of land and ten dwell- 
ings was advertised in Boston and 
i/°io?n -^T^tion papers for March 
14, 1860, which included the homes of 
Hall Parker, Cushing, Fitz, Richards 
Leighton Hale, Green, the yeast house 
and the John H. Hartwell farm. John 
H. Hartwell was deputed to show the 
property and Col. Needham. who was 
then living in Vermont, was given 
^^I? "■ ?^ attorney to make transfers. 
About $20,000 were realized from 
this sale which over three hundred at- 
tended from towns near and remote 

The Hale house burned down before 
the sale, the yeast house was bid in 
by the mortgagee as was also the 
Richards place. 

The Hall farm was bought by Abel 
H. Fuller, the John Hartwell place by 
Joshua Waitt, the Cushing house by 
Mr. Newman, the Leighton house by 
Lyman Blood, and the Green house by 
John Hackett. 

We now come to the general exodus 
when about twenty-five souls took 
train together for Wisconsin, their 
household goods following in three 
freight cars. The colonists were- 
Minot Leighton family, five; Rodolph- 
us Parker family, four; John H. Hart- 
well family, five; Joseph Cushing fam- 
ily, three; Walter Keyes and wife, 
Martha Lunt, Serina Perham. Rebecca 
Green. Jane Howe, Julia Hale 

In April, 1860, they arrived in the 
new country and lived in a large house 
provided by Mr. Hall until they could 
erect their own homes on land from 
out his tract. 

Mr. Benjamin F. Hartwell and Mrs 
Lucy M. Richardson, close neighbors' 
did not approve of the removal and of 
all those formerly associating, they 
and their families remained 

Subsequent to the departure of Mr 
Hall for the west, one, Isaac Newton 
of Lunenburg, for a short time at- 
tempted to arouse the flagging in- 
terest in Adventism and conducted 
meetings in the hall, but he did not 
possess the power of attracting and 
holding his hearers that his prede- 
cessor had and his efforts resulted 
in failure. 

He would work himself into a high 
state of frenzy and extending his 
arms above his head would picture 
to his congregation the overwhelming 



— 9 — 



wrath to come and wildly shout, 
"Armageddon is rolling on." 

After 1863, in the Wisconsin coun- 
try, the fortunes of Mr. Hall greatly 
increased. His brother William in 
England had died and left a large es- 
tate, which after crown taxes were 
paid, left about $80,000 to each of 
five heirs in America of which Mr. 
Hall was one. 

A large part of this was used in the 
further development of the western 
colony and at Germania and Montello, 
the county seat, mills were built, in 
the management of which. Col. Need- 
ham gave valuable time and assist- 
ance, residing there at intervals. 

Mr. Hall died at Germania, October 
31, 1879, much respected and lamented. 
As showing the type of man and the 
consideration he received in the new 
west, the following sketch is taken 
from the Montello Express in a No- 
vember, 1879, issue: "Mr. Hall was 
probably the most remarkable man 
that ever lived in Marquette County. 
Mr. Hall was of all others the most 
thorough and the most finished busi- 
ness man in this part of the country, 
always active^ with more punctuality 
and system and precision than can be 
found in the average business man. 

"He would never wait a single mo- 
ment for opportunities, but always 
created them himself and shaped them 
to his liking; and why should he not? 
With a large brain, an early education 
and training and strong robust con- 
stitution and an active, willing mind, 
there was no combination of earthly 
powers that could restrain him or 
hold him in check." 

It has been claimed that Mr. Hall 
had a sort of hypnotic influence over 
some, and it is sufficient to say that 
in Groton he finally lost his control 
over some of his old-time friends who 
had lost faith in him. This undoubt- 
edly led to the ending of this advent 
community which differed from other 
communities in that they owned noth- 
ing in common except a common be- 
lief. 

Before 1860 John Mekeen Gilson 
bought the Levi Stone farm just south 
of school No. 2 beyond the big pine 
woods, and had sold the dwelling 
house to one Otis, who moved it up 
on the hill towards Groton, but he 
became discouraged and never finish- 
ed it, and in the early seventies it 
became a ruin and all the windows in 



it were out of it, so to speak. What 
the school boys failed to destroy the 
winds and weather finished and a 
depression in the pasture marks the 
cellar of the house. 

Near here Russell lane, closed to 
travel before 1850, led easterly across 
the railroad to the Sumner Boynton 
farm on the "other road" and where 
a small stream flows down beside the 
the track, Samuel N. Hartwell had 
repaired an old dam and flowed up a 
considerable pond for skating on his 
father's farm to the delight of his 
youthful companions;, as it is to-day 
for the Groton School boys. 

The pasture was sold in 1860 by Mr. 
Hartwell to Mr. John M. Gilson and 
is now a part of the holdings of the 
last-mentioned school and used for 
golf links. 

The house occupied in the sixties 
by Noah Moulton was the one built 
for Nabby Stanley before 1835. 

Another old landmark is the big 
roof house at the top of the hill on 
the Ayer-Groton road, which, when 
purchased by Mrs. Lucy M. Richard- 
son, was really two houses close to- 
gether. Mrs. Richardson had Benja- 
min F. Hartwell cover the whole with 
one large roof and fill in between with 
other rooms, not a difficult job for 
Mr. Hartwell, who as a climax to his 
building career erected for the town 
the new High school building in 1870, 
at Groton Centre. 

Mrs. Richardson sold the big roof 
house to Benjamin Needham for his 
occupancy, when he operated the 
yeast factory and she also sold the 
Richards place to Mrs. Ann Gilson. 

An account of the Community would 
be incomplete without mention of the 
associations of old No. 2, or Moors 
school as it was afterwards called by 
vote March 2, 1874, from the Moors 
family who lived near it for genera- 
tions on the the Junction road. 

This schoolhouse was probably 
built in 1792, with several others and 
the old hipped-roof was replaced in 
1856, by the present one. 

Dr. Samuel A. Green, the historian 
of Groton, informs me that the pres- 
ent building was standing in 1817, as 
he was often reminded by his father. 
Dr. Joshua Green, who taught school 
there for one year, during his col- 
lege course at Harvard which extend- 
ed over the years 1814 to 1818. 



10 — 




lliill«-r Hiiih School. IJiilIt 1S7(». 




House (if tho lliji Hoof. 1 s.'T — 1!»11. 




.awreiioe Aejuleiii.'* — Seooinl Uiiildiii!^. Uedioateil Jliue 20, 1871. 




Moors School. 1792 — 1911. 



It is doubtful it a complete list of 
teachers of this school will ever be 
made, for the old records of the 
schools of Groton are rather brief and 
some of the loose sheets or books are 
undoubtedly lost. 

The list of teachers and pupils for 
the earlier years will probably never 
be fully known, but the names here 
given have been obtained from vari- 
ous sources, chiefly from the registers 
since 1851. The extended list of pupils 
is interesting as showing the names 
of families living in the community 
neighborhood during that period. 

For many years it was the custom 
to have a woman teacher in the sum- 
mer term and a man teacher in the 
winter when the big boys attended 
and he was supposed to be able to 
thrash all whom he judged to need it. 

The list of teachers so far obtained 
is as follows: 

1802-3. John Farrar. 
1817. Joshua Green. 
1818 to 1847. Curtis Lawrence; 

Clifford Belcher; Maria 

Nutting; Elizabeth Jacobs; 

Cynthia Jacobs; Artemas 

Longley. 
1847. Harriet B. Harwood; Curtis 

Lawrence. 

1849. Susan F. Lawrence; J. Otis 

Whitney. 

1850. Agnes B. Pollard; Hollis Carr. 

1851. Agnes B. Pollard; John P. 

Towne. 

1852. Alma Willard; Alden Ladd. 

1853. Agnes B. Pollard; Alden Ladd. 

1854. Mary E. Andrews; Mary P. 

Baker. 

1855. Mary P. Baker; Charles O. 

Thompson. 

1856. Jane E. Davis; Solomon Flagg. 

1857. Amanda Parsons; J. E. West- 

gate. 

1858. Elizabeth Graham; Cecil F. P. 

Bancroft. 

1859. Susan F. Bancroft; Cecil F. P. 

Bancroft. 

1860. Susan F. Bancroft; Rufus Liv- 

ermore. 

1861. Susan F. Bancroft; George A. 

Bruce. 

1862. Julia M. Page; Charles E. 

Bigelow. 

1863. Emma C. Hartwell; Emma C. 

Hartwell. 

1864. Emma C. Hartwell; Benjamin 

H. Hartwell. 

1865. Lizzie S. Jaquith; Maria Wright. 



1866. Fannie E. Wright; James C. C. 

Parker. 

1867. Fannie E. Wright; Jennie 

Wright. 

1868. Cynthia A. Goodnow; Andrew 

F. Reed. 

1869. Arabella Prescott; Andrew F. 

Reed. 

1870. Jennie A. Hunt; Jennie Wright, 

two terms. 

1871. Jennie Wright, three terms. 

1872. Jennie Wright; Lucy Hill; El- 

len M. Torrey. 

1873-4-5-6. Ellen M. Torrey. 

1877. Ellen M. Torrey Mason, thir- 
teen terms in all. 

1877. Clara F. Woods, three terms. 

1878. Clara F. Woods; Abby D. Pen- 

niman; J. H. Warren. 

1879. Anna Bancroft, two terms; 

Sarah F. Longley, one term. 
1880-1891. Sarah F. Longley, thirty- 
six terms. 

1892. Dora L. Bailey taught in winter. 
1892-3. Nannette J. May, three terms. 

1893. M. Leola Wright, one term. 
1893. Sarah F. Longley, one term. 
1894-1907. Sarah F. Longley, forty- 
two terms. 

1908. Mary H. Kimball, two terms. 
1908-1911. Sarah F. Longley, eight 
terms. 

In the above list where there are 
two names the first name in each year 
was the teacher for the spring term 
and the second for the winter term, 
which extended over into the next 
year and both terms varied somewhat 
in length according to the amount of 
money available in the district. 

The two Bancrofts teaching in 1859 
were sister and brother, as were also 
the two Hartwells who taught in 1864. 

Mr. Bancroft afterwards became 
principal of Phillips Academy at An- 
dover, Mass., and Mr. Hartwell was 
the late Dr. Hartwell of Ayer, who 
was a successful teacher, before he 
entered upon the profession in which 
he became so eminent. In the winter 
of 1859 he was a pupil in the same 
school with his brother Harris. 

During the years of the long service 
of Miss Longley at her request she 
was relieved that she might spend a 
season in California, and her total 
number of terms of teaching at this 
school including the present one, is 
eighty-eight. 

Now that we are older grown we 
are inclined to excuse our dear old 



— 11 — 



teachers for sundry penalties inflicted 
upon us for misbehavior. We think 
to-day, that we would never again 
merit punishment and be obliged to 
toe the mark or hold our finger on a 
particular nail head in the floor with 
bended back and watch at the knot 
hole until we caught the little mouse. 

One old scholar recalls how a lot of 
boys had to "squat" in a row "down 
front," sitting on the calves of their 
legs, as a punishment for prolonging 
their recess on the ice at the pond in 
the pasture. They never forget that 
difficult task. 

How did we ever manage to sit un- 
der the teacher's desk, where we 
would be in readiness to accept the 
promised punishment after school. 
Never again would we put a board on 
the chimney to smoke out the school 
so that we might have a recess and 
be compelled to carry the smoking 
stove out of doors, fire and all. 

We wish now we had been teacher's 
favorite scholar so that "me an' " 
Charlie could go over to the spring 
and get a pail of water and the far- 
ther spring was the one selected, of 
course. 

When the spelling match was on 
how slyly we would miss the word 
because we hated to go above our 
dear schoolmate and she shyly and 
perhaps half unwillingly accepted the 
intended favor and thanked us with 
her smile. When we were quite 
younger what a disgrace it was to be 
made to sit on the girl's side by the 
side of a girl. Still we have all 
changed since then. The older ones 
always coveted the back seats even 
if they had to stretch to make their 
feet touch the floor. How delighted 
the scholars were when our teacher 
was permitted to make an ascension 
in the balloon after it had alighted at 
the Sumner Graves farm on Septem- 
ber 27, 1871. 

These were only incidents out of a 
countless number occurring in a very 
busy school. All the quarrels and 
petty jealousies in scholarship and 
otherwise are smoothed over and the 
old scholars can feel that they tried 
to improve the passing time. 

Some of the boys and girls went 
from this school to the academy and 
high school at Groton Centre, but it 
was here they laid the foundation for 
a useful career. 

The former pupils of old No, 2 now 



living will hold in loving remembrance 
those teachers who endeavored to im- 
plant in their minds a desire for a 
better education than those who pre- 
ceded them were permitted to enjoy. 

On the Moors farm in 1847, lived 
Benjamin Moors, a venerable man who 
used to ride about in a yellow chaise, 
one of the relics of earlier days and 
near here, as shown on the 1847 
map, Horace Evans, grandfather of 
Harrison E. Evans of Ayer, lived in a 
house which was moved on wheels by 
oxen to South Groton to the present 
Bligh street by Mr. Bligh, a railroad 
contractor during the construction 
period. 

Aaron Mason bought the Moors 
farm in 1850. The former owner had 
a large hop field and a hop house 
on the land where the house of James 
Culver now stands, but Mr. Mason with 
strong temperance principles would 
have none of it. He moved away the 
hop house, cut up the hop poles for 
firewood and planted the fields with 
crops that did not enter into malted 
liquors. He was blessed with four 
daughters — Lizzie, before mentioned; 
Susan, who married Philip D. Dick- 
sou; Ellen, who married Valancourt 
Stone, and Martha, who married Al- 
onzo E. Willis. 

Mr. Mason moved to South Groton 
in 1855, after he had sold to Elisha 
Gould Culver of West Hartford, Ver- 
mont, and for a while he lived at the 
present J. H. Whitcomb house and 
on Cambridge street in a house near 
Columbia street. He then built the 
house now occupied by Mrs. Ella 
Stone, where he died April 8, 1875, 
aged seventy-five years, — five years af- 
ter the death of Mrs. Mason. 

Their four daughters lie beside their 
parents in the Mason lot in Woodlawn 
Cemeterj' at Ayer. 

Mr. Culver sold the farm to Mr. Har- 
riman and he, in 1859, to William 
Chase and Mr. Chase in 1867 sold it 
to Nathan Franklin Culver who had 
married Mary Farnsworth, a ward of 
"Aunt Betsey" Farnsworth. 

On the road towards Groton as 
early as 1834, there lived John 
Jackson Graves, who owned most of 
the land where the Groton School 
buildings now are. Mr. Graves was 
a country trader and butcher, and was 
full of palaver, jovial and good na- 
tured, and was familiarly known as 
"Jack" Graves, by virtue of his two 



— 12 — 




Fives Court. 




Aariiu Masou H«»iue. ISoO — lS."»n. 
Erected 1820. 








1-lnif I Ji,f Jul 1 qr l^jf r| 




Grofoii \<'iHUMiiy. Krccfeil i'iV.i — I)iii-iie<l July 4, l.SOS. 



1 








^■■■1^ '^'^ ^w^^Kt' 


f^. 
^ 


]j3^^^y'^^^^*^„ tt^^Tj 




^^»- -i^mmmu 




J 


^1 



Homo of .loliii H. Hiiitivcll. 1S47 — lS(iO. 



given names. He moved to Groton 
Centre in 1869, and died there in 1871, 
aged fifty-nine. 

On the place, in later years known 
as the Scanlan place, lived old Tom 
Dodge, a queer fellow who always 
wore a leather apron and if asked to 
ride would reply, "No too big a hurry." 
It was directly opposite the Scanlan 
place that the first chapel of the Gro- 
ton school was built. It was in 
October, 1905, moved to Groton, and 
remodelled, and is now the Catholic 
church in the village. 

In 1849, Nathan Franklin Culver 
lived in the John Page house, a very 
old house in Groton. This stood in 
the northeast corner of the Graves 
farm on the west side of Farmers' 
Row, and was taken down in 1870. 

John Page was an original proprie- 
tor in Groton, and also owned a saw- 
mill in the south part of the town, 
now Ayer. He was the direct ances- 
tor of the late Thomas and Alfred 
Page, who both lived and died in Ayer. 

Osgood Putnam lived on the large 
farm further along, having moved up 
from "over the river," where he had 
been an extensive grower of hops 
when that was an active industry in 
New England. 

It is doubtful if any country road in 
New England furnished so many vol- 
unteers in the war of the rebellion. 
From the Luke Farnsworth house to 
the Waitt farm, a short mile, in which 
were thirteen consecutive houses, 
eleven men enlisted. They were: 
George Farnsworth, Michael Hackett, 
Thomas Gilson, Sumner Gilson, Ala- 
vander Messer, Albion Messer, Charles 
Messer, Alfred A. Richardson, Rufus 
B. Richardson, Leander S.Kendall, Har- 
rison Waitt. Five of these were in 
Co. B, Sixth regiment, recruited in 
Groton. One of this number, Alfred 
Austin Richardson, gave up his 
young life at Suffolk, Virginia, and 
during the war period his remains 
were brought to the home of his moth- 
er and then taken to Westford for in- 
terment. Noah Moulton also enlisted 
from the neighborhood in Co. B, from 
the old Nabby Stanley house, before 
mentioned, on the "Junction" road. 

As further showing that the mili- 
tary spirit was not dormant in the 
Community, we may add to these, 
others who were boys in the neighbor- 
hood at one time, Henry and Walter 
Dickson, Daniel Kendall and W. H. I. 



Hayes, known in the army as "Old 
Hundred," a name which followed 
him and was given to a brand of cigars 
he afterwards manufactured in Low- 
ell where he later lived and died. He 
is said to have been one of the very 
youngest "men" to have ever carried 
a gun in the war, having enlisted at 
the age of thirteen. The nickname 
was given him on account of his 
small stature, youthfulness and droll 
wit. 

For a time he and his mother lived 
on the Moors farm in the family of 
William Chase, whose daughter he 
married. 

For returned soldiers settling in the 
neighborhood we had Jordan Goodwin, 
Nelson Root, Harrison Coding, John 
Bishop and John Keating. 

When the war was over, the return- 
ed soldier boys, lacking a target, used 
to practice shooting across the field 
at the abandoned yeast house, and for 
years there was a bullet hole in the 
front door said to have been put there 
by the irrepressible Rufus. 

After the 1860 sale, the successive 
owners of the Hall place were Abel 
Fuller, William Chase, Alfred Pollard, 
Abel L. Lawton, Nelson Root, Sumner 
Hilliard, Mr. Daggett, Mr. Watson, 
Marshall Davis and finally Mr. William 
Amory Gardner and the buildings 
were destroyed by fire February 13, 
1891, when occupied by Mr. Jefferson, 
an instructor at Groton school. 

In the early seventies "ghosts" 
were seen in and about the premises 
and the youth of the neighborhood 
stood agape at the house all lighted 
up with candles. Rev. Crawford Night- 
ingale, in commenting on the circum- 
stance, said in his drawling way: 
"They are real practical kind of 
ghosts since they left their candles 
in dishes of sand." 

It is supposed that some one tried 
to depress the value of the place to 
the owner at that time by this uncanny 
display. 

On the Shirley road below the 
Dickson farm, now the Dickinson 
farm, lived Jacob Pollard and son Al- 
fred and daughters Mary Jane and 
Sarah. Thomas Pollard, another son, 
had moved to the Whittemore place 
near James Brook, and a daughter 
Agnes had married Asa Stillman 
Lawrence of Groton. Another daugh- 
ter Lucy, was the wife of John Jack- 
son Graves. 



— 13 



The frequency of the lawsuits be- 
tween Jacob Pollard and Sylvester 
Jacobs, who lived on the "other road," 
was quite noticeable, and they extended 
over a long period and were mostly 
questions of trespass and land dam- 
ages. 

After the death of his wife, Agnes, 
Asa Stillman Lawrence married the 
widow of Alfred Pollard and settled 
the estate of Mr. Pollard to the sat- 
isfaction of his wife at least. The 
second Mrs. Lawrence was Jane, a 
daughter of Nathaniel Davis, the next 
door neighbor of the Pollards. 

Two daughters of Jacob Pollard, 
Mrs. Mary Jane Hazen Hastings and 
Mrs. Sarah Pollard Holt, are both 
living in Sterling and are considerably 
over eighty years of age. 

The Nathaniel Davis place, where 
more recently Mr. Achorn lived, was a 
part of the farm of Major Amos Farns- 
worth. This portion was also the 
home of Miss Elizabeth Parnsworth 
until she sold to Mr. Davis and moved 
to Groton in 1850, where she died on 
February 2, 1884, aged ninety-one 
years. On the lower portion stands 
the old farmhouse, occupied in 1847, 
by Luke Parnsworth and his family. 

In keeping with their ardor for the 
defence of the country, have been the 
efforts of the Community youth to ob- 
tain a liberal education. In 1863, Edward 
D. Dickinson, Henry G. Graves, Samuel 
L. Graves, Amos B. Putnam, Rufus B. 
Richardson, Harris C. Hartwell and his 
sister, Emma C. Hartwell, all attended 
Lawrence Academy at the same time, 
and many will recall the friendly 
rivalry and exchange of information 
between them. When the boys later 
came home from college, their vocal 
efforts in the declination of Greek and 
Latin words, from house to house, 
awoke the neighborhood. 

Some of them had left school to go 
to the war and in the period after v;e 
find them in various colleges — Rufus 
Richardson at Yale, Harris Hartwell 
at Harvard, Samuel Graves and Amos 
Putnam at Amherst, and Benjamin H 
Hartwell at Jefferson Medical college, 
and Harrison Waitt studying for the 
ministry. These were followed, a few 
years later, by two sons of Joseph II. 
Richardson, Charles H., and Edward 
A. Richardson, who were both in Yale 
together in 1880, and by Samuel S. 
Watson, who went to Harvard in J8S1. 

While the youth of the period before 



1860, were not much encouraged in at- 
tending school and were led to believe 
that work was the chief end to be 
sought next to the church, those com- 
ing after seemed to break away from 
their restraint. A desire to mingle 
with the world became manifest, and 
the children of the various newcomers 
for the last fifty years have lived in 
a healthful, social atmosphere. We 
recall many evening gatherings, coast- 
ing and skating parties, family pic- 
nics and trips to the Nashua for fish- 
ing and a plunge in the old swimming 
hole down near the island, which was 
once "the neck." 

To a one-time resident, the changes 
in the neighborhood are quite notice- 
able. The advent of the Groton School 
in 1884, and its extension has caused 
the removal of many of the old houses 
and fire has put its effacing hand on 
others. 

The John Hartwell farm buildings 
were moved in 1898, and separated, 
the house now standing just north 
of the old Graves house and the barn 
removed into the pasture. This barn 
was built for Stephen M. Kendall.with 
timbers cut in the Knops pond woods 
and sawed out at the old Lothrop 
mill at the outlet of the pond. The 
Richards, Leighton and Benjamin 
Hartwell houses have been removed to 
make room for the more pretentious 
buildings of Mr. Gardner, while the 
erection of the Joy mansion led to 
the removal of the Parker house in 
1885, and the Pitz house, which was 
taken down after 1900. 

The old barn on the Pollard place 
was burned on May 16, 1877, and that 
on the Graves place, then owned by 
the school, was struck by lightning 
on May 30, 1887, and burned. The 
Goodwin house, then owned by Mrs. 
Powell, was destroyed by fire on July 
19, 1904. The barn at the Aaron Ma- 
son or Culver farm being in a de- 
lapitated condition, was taken down. 

Few of the old landmarks remain, 
but on the ashes of the old ideas, as 
it were, has arisen this new Phoenix, 
an active, aggressive institution of 
learning and lasting benefit. 

The changes in ownership of some 
of the old places in the village have 
been frequent, and while it has not 
been the intent of the writer to enu- 
merate the many different families, 
an attempt has been made to record 
the movement of those who were liv- 



— U — 



ing there in the Second Advent period. 

There were many honest, earnest 
boys and girls, who have gone out 
from these homes and filled import- 
ant places in the world. 

The establishment of the Groton 
school on ground which may rightly 
be called in the Community, was a 
distinct epoch in the history of Gro- 
ton, and the beautiful situation which 
made life so enjoyable there in former 
years, has contributed in a large 
measure to its success apart from the 
excellent methods of teaching and 
its management. The sojourner in 
other lands returns with pleasure to 



this delightful country road and to 
the westward looks across the valley 
of the Nashua to the extended hori- 
zon of distant mountains. 

Monadnock, Watatic and Wachusett 
dominate the view, but the "woods and 
templed hills" of various points 
around, all go to make up a picture 
upon which the eyes, tired of other 
scenes, seem to rest. It is a glorious 
prospect and restful in the softness of 
the outline and one that has made an 
impress upon all who have lived in 
this part of the good old town of 
Groton. 



15 — 



H. S. TURNER. PRINTER. AYER. MASS 



0€C 13 1911 




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